The computer-age is still relatively new, and technological innovation for computers has seen a greater emphasis on increasing hardware resources such as memory and processing, or efficiently utilizing those resources when they are scarce. With the maturation of hardware and software programming techniques, increasing efforts are being made to improve usability. As but one recent example, tablet computers have recently had a massive impact on the configurations of electronic apparatuses available on the market, and have the potential to supplant a certain amount of the traditional laptop and notebook market. Much of that impact has been attributed to usability, as tablet computers frequently incorporate voice recognition, touch screens and accelerometers, eschewing the traditional keyboard and mouse.
The proliferation of small, mobile computing form factors has also made it difficult to rely on the traditional keyboard and mouse as input devices. Accordingly, touch screens are commonly deployed and software is responsive to various swipe gestures involving the sweeping of the thumb or fingers over the touch screen surface. Conveniently, swipe gestures can obviate the need for a mouse, trackpad or other pointing device. However, not all mouse functionality can be elegantly substituted with swipe gestures. For example, implementing the “right click” or “scroll wheel” functionality using swipe gestures has resulted in the development of highly complex swipe gestures that can require the use of multiple fingers, thereby interfering with the very usability gains originally contemplated by the deployment of swipe gestures.
One application for electronic apparatus is the generation and processing of invoices. As but one example, the hospitality industry can have particularly complex invoicing needs as the accumulation of beverage and food orders can occur over a number of hours, with small discrete interactions being required to increment the invoice total in accordance with the beverages and food that are served. There is further complexity introduced when a party requests that the final invoice be divided individually, or according to certain groups. Current point of sale technology is awkward and clumsy in its handling of these complexities.